4i2 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1/30. 



admit, or ratlier to absorb it by attraction, as far as the larger and visible 

 branches of the lacteals on the coats of the guts, into which it easily flows in 

 the time of dilatation, or diastole, which expands and unfolds these vessels at 

 that time for its easy reception ; from which it is further propelled by the next 

 systole, or contraction, into the primary or first order of the lacteals in the 

 mesentery; and by the same repeated impulses of the contracting sections of 

 the guts, is forced further through the second order of lacteals in the mesen- 

 tery, into the receptaculum commune, and the thoracic duct; assisted by valves, 

 and promoted by the incessant motion of the muscles, and of all the contents 

 of the abdomen and thorax in respiration, it is at last poured into the subcla- 

 vian vein, for a perpetual recruit of the blood in a healthy state. 



But if the first movers in this series fail, that is, if the muscular fibres of 

 the guts have lost their peristaltic motion, as in this case, then the expression, 

 absorption, and progress of the chyle described, cannot succeed, the blood 

 must be deprived of its recruit, and the person die starved; which, as before 

 said, seems to have been this person's case, and will sufficiently account for 

 the rest of the symptoms above recited. 



First, His want of sleep, and the inability of opium to procure it, might be 

 owing to a want of recruit of chyle in the blood: as we see that those who 

 live sparingly, sleep very little, and those who feed plentifully, require by so 

 much a greater number of hours to sleep; and in all chronical cases, where the 

 body ceases to be nourished, the sleep also fails, and opiates have but little 

 power ; whereas in children, where a great part of their food goes to- 

 wards both nourishment and growth, the greater part of their time is spent 

 in sleep. 



It may indeed seem difficult to conceive how a want of rest should ensue so 

 soon after the accident. But considering that the loss of one meal in a day, 

 especially of supper, to such as have been accustomed to sup, has occasioned 

 fewer hours rest in the following night, it will follow, that such persons require 

 at least some small recruit once in 6 or 7 hours, in order to rest their usual 

 number of hours; and therefore in our case, where all recruit must have ceased 

 soon after the accident, he might be sensible of the impairment of rest in 6 or 

 7 hours after it, and those about him might well observe the increase of that 

 symptom, at least in the following night. 



Another difficulty arises from the observation of swallows and tortoises, &c. 

 which sleep most in winter, when they eat and drink nothing. In answer to 

 which, there seems to be no parity between the natural constitution of their 

 blood and humours, and that of men: to these, and such like animals, with 

 regard to recruit and nourishment, action and rest, the spring and summer are 



